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Day 1: Big Black Island The plane landed in Kona, Big Island at 10am. Warm and sunnyyy ~mid-70s? I was definitely over-dressed coming from San Jo. The airport looked really cute - no oppressive-looking concrete boxes, but rather, series of single-story island-style bldgs 😊. Yeah, I'm in Hawaii, yoohoo! 2min later, a PA announcement in Japanese...yeah, I'm definitely in Hawaii...
Bertrand was already here and picked me up at the airport. Following a quick catch up and itinerary discussion, we were off to Volcano NP. It was going to take a few hours. Left developed Kona and it must have been ~1hr of passing by coffee shops and what-nots along the road. The sign saying "South Point 12miles" emerged. That's a keeper, turn right. 12 narrow miles later, we got to the southern-most point of the US. I don't know if there was much to see but anyway... Still hot and pleasantly humid, we continued eastward. Next sign: "Black sand beach". Keeper. The island is full of lava and there the sand was BLACK. The sight was neat, contrasting the white wave. Woosh, it was already 2pm when we had projected to be at Volcano NP by then :p Better
get going.
As we climbed to reach the NP, mist started to roll in. By the time we got to the crater, we were completely in the cloud, no view of the crater 😞. We went through the crater rim anyhow. The lava tube was neat. It's a hollow tunnel created by the lava flow. The tube gets dark very quickly. Within 50yrds, it becomes an absolute complete pitch black.
At ~5p, we started heading to the lava flow viewing point. After dark, we'd be able to see the orange glow of lava flow! ~1hr drive got us to a huge sign that said "no trespassing, no unauthorized vehicle". It quickly accumulated ~10 cars right there. Eventually a truck was leaving and told us it's ok to enter, oookay then. A short 1-lane road took us to a large parking area where traffic control people told us to take flashlights and water. We reached the viewing area after a 5min walk. We could see lava faaaar away glowing orange. Starry sky and lava, a perfect night.
I didn’t mind taking in the sight all night but it was already 8p. Not only had we had to drive
2hrs, but also do grocery for tomorrow's big hike in Waipio Valley. We had to hit the sac pronto if we wanted to get up before 6 and we were starving as lunch consisted of munchies from gas station. So much on our plate!!! We had reserved a place at a hostel very close to Waipio trailhead. This was a work though. I had to call Annelle, the owner, several times because she kept convincing me that we didn't need to stay there when we could camp for free at Volcano NP. I had to justify our plan and make our case of taking our business to her. We were just obnoxious visitors that make unfathomable plans, I know 😉.
Day 2: Wet & burned on the Big Island Alarm went off at 5:15a to hit Waipio trail so we can make it back in time. Unfortunately, alarm chirp was accompanied by the sound of pouring rain (and of course the roosters). Reset at 7. We checked out at 7:30 when we finally met Annelle. She is a chatty sweet lady. She told us all about Honoka'a Boy, a Japanese movie based on and filmed in the very town!
Volcano NP
Big IslandAfter a nice conversation with Annelle, although the cloud didn't seem to end, we started hiking at 8. Sprinkly but not bad. Super steep descent took us to beautiful lush path. After a few muddy miles, we reached the black sand beach. Shortly after though, it started pouring 😞. At that point, we had to cross the river and had to give up. That was a tough defeat. A 12hr-turned-2hr hike concluded all drenched. The bright side, if there was any, was that we at least got to the beach.
Go west. Vegetation drastically changed to brown dry bushes on black lava field and so did the weather. Moisture was suddenly sucked out of all things wet and it was beach-ready by the time we got to the west coast ~noon. We stopped at Hapuna Beach. It was already pretty crowded. Water was pleasant, a total relaxation... But the damn Hawaiian sun! A random ukulele-playing guy saw Bertrand’s red skin and said "Hawaiian sun strong, gotta be careful brotha". Ahaha…my laugh disappeared soon after, when I found my skin burnt red!!! It has never occurred to me, e-v-e-r!! The power of mighty Hawaiian sun was real.
At ~3p,
Volcano NP
Big Island we continued our way upwards to Kapa’au. There, we met with a spectacular view of the cliff from the west side. A short and steep descent took us to the beach at the foot of it. By that time, cloud had cleared from the cliff.
From there, we went into Kona for a coffee break and their cliché items - Kona coffee and passion fruit bar :-p It was in a happening resort area, a disaster. I was glad I didn't come all this way to stay in ugly concrete boxes.
That night, we went to Pineapple Park in Kona to be close to Kealakekua Bay for the short day tomorrow. Somehow, the clerk made our privacy the top priority and put us in a private but filthy room. Justification session #2 to make our case that we’d gladly take a dorm room where there are other people.
Day 3: From the dude to the motel guy So we read that Kealakekua Bay is a pristine place to snorkel. As we were driving down to the coast, we read further that the bay is accessible only with kayak or boat. Sure enough, a kayak rental van showed
Black sand beach
Waipio, Big Island up with bunch of kayaks and their renters. We would've had to go back up to the main road and rent the kayak. It would've been really pushing it since we had to be at the airport by ~1:30p. Bitterness of not doing the homework haunted us, well, for a few minutes until we met Alex, a tanned big Aussie guy that totally reminded me of the dude. He offered to bring a kayak for us and let us rent it as amigos. No paper signing etc. And the price, super reasonable. Luck is with us! He gave us some pointers and off we went to Capt cook monument! Love kayaking, especially on a sunny day on clear water with a good kayaking buddy, hehe 😄.
A short 30min kayaking took us to the shore. To prevent kayaks from damaging the corral, we snorkeled with the kayak on a leash. It was indeed a great snorkeling spot full of corrals and colorful fishes. After an hour or so, bunch of kayaks and big boat started showing up. But that's ok, it was getting cold being soaked in water for while.
It had been a busy few days and
Black sand beach
Waipio, Big Island it was a good opportunity to sit down and grab nice lunch at Nasturtium on the way to the airport. They serve fresh fine plates that are very approachable 😊. The flight was delayed by an hour, which sucked cuz we were like beach bumbs covered in dry salt from snorkeling. A mini plane flew via Maui and arrived in Lihue at ~6. Since we had business in Lihue the next morning, we looked for a lodging there. We arrived at the fixer-upper…uhhh there is vacancy? Great. Yadi yadi yada...he ended up talking for almost an hour!! He gave us the low-down of all possible bad things that can/have happened to the visitors. I dunno...the locals think us visitors are locos!!! Anyway, I'm sure there were gazillion more stories of missing tourists but we said good night as we still had grocery to do and dinner to eat, besides much-awaited shower con senor cucaracha...
Day 4: Intro to Kauai: Red mud in Waimea First mission of the day: get a backcountry permit for Na'pali coast. Based on our experience with popular NPs like Yosemite, we went 30min before the office opened. It turned out that nobody walked-in... At 8,
an attendant told us that the only possibility for us to stay at the end of 11mile trail is Fri, the day before we were going to leave the island. It ain't gonna work, doooomed 😞. We came all this way and give up backpacking into Na'pali coast?! You've got be kidding me, seriously?? The thing was that there was 1 spot (i.e. 1 person) open at the site we were opted for. We were 1 person too many, although the space we'd be occupying would be the same. Doesn't make sense but if that's what they have to do to protect the nature... While we looked hopeless, the lady said "but I can put you on the mid-way point for 1 night. I'm not supposed to but it's possible, 1 night only" Hmmm, not the best situation but mid-way site is better than nothing. It's on! Then we went to yet another dept to get camping permits by the trailhead. This was peanuts 😊.
Alright, done with the logistics and bureaucracy at 8:30. Destination: Waimea canyon. A windy road quickly ascends up the canyon via good overlooks. We arrived at the first trailhead of the day at 9:30
Kapa'au
Big Island and started Kukui Trail for a few miles out. The trail quickly took us down into the canyon and opened up to awesome views! At 11, we headed up further into the NP via yet more spectacular lookouts.
~12:30, we hit another trailhead slash lookout. This one was going to be ~7miles round trip. Sounds like peanuts...not! This was where all the red dirt we drove through and comprised the breathtaking canyon turned into mud, yum!! First few encounters of the mush, I was careful to avoid dipping my feet into it. But after many many puddles, I just felt stupid doing that. By then, my shoes were dragging red mud. The toughest was climbing the mud to get to the vista point. That was gonna be the lunch spot 😊. Grabbing onto the roots, branches, muddy rock, whatever to give myself a push to continue upwards. What was even tougher was that the view was better down there, arrrrgh X( That's ok, we made it and we were proud. Sandwich tasted gourmet. Shortly after the vista point, we reached Alaka’i crossing at ~2p. From there, it was another 3miles to the swamp. After going through the forest, we
reached the swamp where dense trees had disappeared and the flat land was under dense fog. By the time we came back to the trailhead ~5p, the view was completely behind the white curtain.
Shave ice baby! It was perfect after a mud-fulla adventure. We picked up one with macnut ice cream in Waimea. It was ginormous and over-dosed with sugar! Next door was the Red Dirt shirt boutique. I had my eyes on it since the arrival cuz I mean the dirt is really red. The story is that a t-shirt shop found all their merchandise ruined after a devastating hurricane. As sold, the color rubs off. At home, I found myself washing the shirt like five times before it stopped bleeding...very potent stuff. After a quick grub at Paradise Grill in Princeville, we arrived at Ha’ena beach campsite at 9:30p. Already exhausted but we had another early start the next day and lots to prepare for the overnight backpack. Despite the exhaustion, our neighbor's wonderful all-night singing/ukulele session kept me only half way in the dream...
Day 5: Red mud & green spectacle: Na'pali coast! Damn we're good - 6:30 sharp at Ke’e beach trailhead! It's
Underwater view
Kealakekua Bay, Big Island been a looong time since I went backpacking. The first 30min felt the hardest, feeling every weight of the bag, beside the fact that it was early without bfast. Then the backpack starts to become part of you, except for 30-degree inclines, of course 😉. All day, I was pretty much drenched in sweat, dirt, sun block, mosquito repellant and anti-itch. Yum.
Since we were gonna camp at mile 6, we added 4mile side trip to a waterfall. Due to stream crossing and super-muddy trail, it took good 3hrs. Due to high water, the side trip ended with a view of a tall waterfall far away... My shoes were squashy. I dipped 1 foot at the first stream and then both at the 2nd. Tough. The next 4miles continued in lush mud and we arrived at Hanakoa campsite at 2pm, very ahead of schedule. Despite early arrival, by this time, my thighs were shot, rrrrgh 😞. After gobbling down sandwich #1, I was dosing off, wtf. Well I shouldn't despair too much. After all, we did 10miles of muddy terrain of strenuous hike with backpack in 8hrs.
At 3p, Bertrand was still in good shape! So ok, let's
Underwater view
Kealakekua Bay, Big Island go to the fall, supposedly 1/3 mile from the campsite. I should be able to manage. Again, both of my feet went straight into the stream, rrrr. My legs were like jelly! It was just getting dry from earlier, rrrrgh! We finally concluded the day ~5p. That's when our neighbor invited us to their feast!! Tammy and Bill from OH were amazingly prepared...I was in a complete awe! It was nice chatting with them around the fire that they built, thank you!!! Day1, success. Lights out at 8. Prepare for Day2!
Day 6: Kauai survivor style and guava juice hallucination Alarm went off at 5:30a. Quickly packed up in dark, pants dry, socks dry, shoes not really... 6:15, go! The second day of backpacking was another story. Oh how that backpack was eating into my shoulder and hurting my back, so ergonomically incorrect!! The last stretch of the trail to Kalalau beach becomes bare and literally on the edge. Goats were going straight up the hill, knocking rocks off from above here and there. Need a road sign that says "Falling Rocks". It ends with a long but steep descent to the beach. What a view!!! Just couldn't get
enough of the carved green cliff and rocky beach!!! We had arrived at the end of the trail at 8:40, we did it!! Everybody told us that it would be pushing it but we were so ahead of schedule - damn we’re good, really!! I mean the view, totally worth it!
We enjoyed the beach until ~9am and started heading back the 11-mile trail. We were still on a good pace. At 11a, we were already back at Hanakoa campsite and by 2p at Hanakapi’ai beach, 2 miles from the trailhead. By this time, I was very close to being done, beat, hungry and weak. Just dreaming of sugary guava juice. We took a nice hour break at Hanakapi’ai beach. We had to cross the last stream but once I squatted on a rock to reach the next rock, I had no strength to stand up, amazing. I probably stayed squatting until Bertrand came to rescue, wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. Ok, the backpack was weighing on me for the last 14miles or 8hrs through some >30-degree slopes, I know not to be so hard on myself 😊. Last 2miles went quick as I was numb and only
had hallucination of guava juice :p
It was so emotional seeing Ke'e beach trailhead again!!! We did it!!! We knew exactly what needed to be done next; dip in ocean! Water was on a cold side but man, it was the most refreshing dip ever. Totally refreshed and cleaned, we headed back to Princeville for much-waited, much-deserved guava juice! The 1st glass ran down in one sip...aaaaa. Orders for the seconds followed immediately after. With the stiff legs, we went back to Ha’ena beach to camp. In the end, we lucked out with the weather again 😊 Some sprinkles during the not-so-interesting part but other than that, it was breezy and perfect for a power hike. We caught the good part of the way before the cloud became low 😊. Day2, success and then some.
Day 7: Ain't no stoppin' in Kauai It was raining here and there throughout the night and the morning. Today, we took our time to pack out the wet tent and even had chance to get coffee in Princeville 😄. We didn't have any concrete plan but in any case, destination: Wailua. Impulsively stopped by a visitor center and even more impulsively decided
to go kayaking down & up Wailua river for 5hrs to the Secret falls. It was still sprinkly and kayaking really wasn't occurring to me but anyhow. All excited being on a kayak again but it didn't take much to be reminded of the boot camp of past few days - my arms were burning. All the way from my shoulder to finger tips was numb! I might have looked like I was paddling but I'm sure I was being useless... Again, a good kayak buddy is indispensable :p After ~1hr of supposed paddling, we reached a shore. From there, a 30min walk after a few stream crossing got us to the Secret falls!! Although the water was cold, ain't nothin' stoppin' Bertrand from swimming! Me - I need motivation like him to even think about it :p
Paddling back was tough. Wind was blowing against us. Some patchy strong blast too. This is not a good time for this! Anyhow, we made it back ~2:30p, right on time. I was useless paddling without the wind...go figure :p Bam bam, we made a short drive to Poipu golf course for the heritage trail. This was really nice 2mile walk
along the beach and cliff, perhaps like Del Mar, although it wasn't exactly an easy stroll with my chancle on rocks and my legs being still shot. When we turned around at 5p, it was getting really windy. Beach sand was hitting us like sand blast and it really hurt X(
The last destination in Kauai: Hanapepe. There is an art night on the main strip on Friday nights when 15 some galleries stay open. It was lively with music. We went through them to see the works of local artists and seeing the familiar sceneries of Kauai. By then, we were more than ready to treat ourselves to a nice meal at the Hanapepe cafe - a nice cozy place with good unique menu. I doused a huge slab of rare ahi tuna (really fresh :p~) and still went for an ice cream ball or more like a bomb!
We got to Lihue at ~10p. First thing, showerrrr!!! I took the longest shower in my life but it was absolutely necessary! Everything was catching up...uhhh...except for sleep due to cockadoodling session.
Day 8: Road to Hana, tropical Maui Got up early to reorganize the luggage because
Red mud!
Ke'e NP, Kauai we knew this was going to be a chore and a half, especially after a backpacking trip. 9:20a flight to Kahului left at 9a and we were in good shape. Plan for the day - drive along Hana Hwy, which is windy road that hugs the north-east cliff coast. We made pit stops here and there for frequent hidden waterfalls, as well as food stands. We made our first stop at a cute stand. Got fresh squeezed sugar cane w ginger, yum! It turns out; there are many stands along Hana Hwy selling shave ice, smoothie and fruits etc. Lunch stop was in Ke’anae, where there is a gorgeous view of the coast and another cute little stand - our first encounter to the best banana bread. I fully enjoyed a slice of pineapple and not-too-sweet banana bread, and chat with Art. Spanish always comes handy.
Hana is making a mark on a map but you could drive right through it without realizing. Looks like just another neighborhood but you won't miss the gas $$ hovering $5/gal!! The rest of the island was uniform at ~$3.6/gal. We grabbed dinner in Hana. Tried Hawaiian concoction called saimin. It's basically a
Ke'e beach
Trailhead of Na'pali coast hike, Kauai ramen immigrant style but I don't know why the name...
We were set out to camp in Kipahulu, a bit south of Hana. From Hana though, the road suddenly becomes rugged, rough, narrow and windy! In dark, it was pure thrill. When a cow turned out in front of us...?! The road was just wide enough for a compact car and a cow. Soooo close to collision!! The road didn't look legit at this point but very luckily, the car behind us was headed to the campsite. She was driving super fast but made sure we made the unmarked turn and phew, we arrived safely, thank you!!!
Day 9: Meeting serenity in Maui 7:15 start to the nearby trailhead, reasonable. After a mini hike to the pool, we got on a 4mile round trip to the waterfall I forgot the name of but it’s 400ft tall! A fallen-mango-studded Pipiwai trail along the Oheo Gulch turned into dense bamboo forest (totally zen) which opened up to the waterfall. We lucked out with the weather again and it was a nice hike 😊.
Go west! We continued our road trip on Pilani Hwy. This side of the mountain is
dry because the cloud accumulates on the shorter peak behind it. Dry windy one-car gravel road continued along the coast for while without much, reminded me of Death Valley. Wait, I take it back. We ran into a hippy camp, which looked like some bazaar with tents all around. For $20/day, we were welcomed to join 😄. Just as the road became paved, we reached Ulupalakua store, just in time for lunch. There were people from motorcycle club and Ferrari/Vette/Porche/WRX ride-outs gathered there for BBQ & other goodies. It was happening - for once on this road trip. Sure enough, they were headed the paved way 😊.
Continuing on north to Haleakala NP. The plan was to stay at the closest campsite from its 10,000ft summit to catch the sunrise the next day. The guide book advised to be there 1hr early, which we thought was an insanity but the park ranger told us that the summit parking gets filled up even earlier. At that point, the road will be closed and we'd be stuck with a bit lower spot. We have one chance, the weather seems to be nice, it's on!
From the campsite, a long switchback
Muddy trail
Na'pali coast, Kauai climb led to the summit. It was already 3p so we grabbed a short 2mile round trip toward the crater. We were completely above the cloud and in complete silence! It was a strange experience...
Dinner time! We went down the mountain to Cafe 808 in Kula for local dishes, yoohoo! This totally easy-going diner has everything that's blood-vein-breaking. Hungry hikers could appreciate it 😊. At Hosmer campground, cloud was beneath us and there was only another party at the campground. Star-studded sky was gorgeous but we had to hit the sac for an insanely early start.
Day 10: Beachin' Maui and the west side Alarm went off at 3:15a. Quickly packed our stuff and was out of the campground at 3:45. On schedule, a crazy one even for me. We beat everyone to the summit at whoppin' 4:10! It was nice though, just stargazing. I mean so many stars it was even hard to identify anything. Milky way was in sight too. At ~4:45a, whole bunch of cars started showing up. At 5:15, it was getting light out so we toughed it up and went up to the observatory. It was windy and cooold!! The sun came
up on time just at 6a. What a sight; sun rising over the crater. Hordes of crowd quickly drifted away and it was time for us to go too.
First thing first; bfast! Destination - Makawao for renowned cream puff. Unfortunately, it was closed for vacay, nooo. We went instead to Casanova for a slice of passion fruit cranberry poppy 😊. Next destination; Makena for some beaching, which was overdue. The weather was shaky in Makawao but Makena was happening with a good beach weather. It seems that that's where all the beach resorts are hovering around. And it seems that’s where a huge crowd at the airport went. We definitely didn't see them on the mountain. But there is a plenty of beach to go around for everyone. Just stop and hit the sand along any stretch of the coast!
Spam musubi was the choice for lunch. I think it takes some getting used to... We topped it off with Lappert's ice cream. Always a pleasure 😄. The afternoon was going around the west half of the island clockwise. Beach continued all along the southwest stretch. We made a brief stop in Lahaina, a touristy wharf. We
had crazy shave ice though. Small one was a size of my face. Large looked simply scary. Road on the north side gets even crazier. Again, it's one-car wide and windy but this one hugs the cliff. Yellow signs saying "Narrow Roads" is obvious and an understatement! Besides the nervousness, I was excited that the roadside kiosks of fruits and banana bread came back, mmm. Julia's was a bright green tree house that sold her moist and molasses-dark loaf by her niece. We made another stop and I got an avocado. I had been curious because it looked different from what I normally get. Indeed its skin is 3mm thick. Inside was nutty creamy yum 😄.
We completed the round ~5p. From there, we went for the last supper in Pa'ia via a random small beach. Cafe Mambo was a pleasant place. Bertrand took me to the airport where I quickly packed my mess. After camping 2 nights and covered in dry salt might not be the optimum situation for the redeye flight but it'll have to do 😉.
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